


My Babysitter is a Slime Alien

by ee3



Category: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-08
Updated: 2020-09-09
Packaged: 2021-03-06 19:14:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,020
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26354020
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ee3/pseuds/ee3
Summary: 11-year old Nog keeps getting into trouble on Terok Nor for being unsupervised. Odo gets a new job in addition to security: watching after him while Quark and Rom are busy.
Relationships: Odo/Quark (Star Trek)
Comments: 7
Kudos: 41





	1. Chapter 1

It was a beautiful day on Terok Nor. You just couldn't see blue skies like on Earth, as space stations don't have an atmosphere, and instead of birds chirping the only avian creature you could find was the chief of security in his favorite non-humanoid form, a tarkelean hawk. He spread his wings as he glided down the promenade, sharp blue eyes scouting out possible disturbances. Something out of the ordinary, like a Cardassian towered over an especially small Ferengi boy. 

Odo carefully avoided colliding with any bajoran prisoners along the way. He landed silently and perched on one of the guard rails, shifting into amber slime, and then into the approximately human form of himself. "Gentlemen. What seems to be the problem?" 

The cardassian spoke angrily. "This little gargoyle was antagonizing me!" He spat. "He was sitting over there by himself, up on that deck with the rails, and he was laughing."

"Laughter is hardly a crime, to my knowledge." Odo glanced down at the child to make sure he wasn't injured. Thankfully he was unharmed, but Odo did recognize him. It was hard not to notice, as one of few Ferengi on the station, but this particular boy had a familial resemblance to one of Odo's personal acquaintances. Quark, the boy's uncle, the bartender. Odo could recall seeing him in the bar on occassion, helping wipe down counter tops and sweeping the floors. He pondered the legality of having an eleven year old work, but considering they were family and the fact that the Cardassians ran ore processing centers with far worse conditions, he decided it wasn't really a problem. 

"Perhaps not. But he threw these at me." The Cardassian held up a small object pinched tightly between his fingers. It was brown, in two sections. Ah, Odo thought, it took him a second, they were replicated peanuts.

The boy, Nog, that was his name, remained silent and cowered before the large reptilian man. He stared up at Odo helplessly, probably just hoping he would let him off with a warning to stay out of any more trouble.

Odo kept his hollow eyes on the stranger. "Leave the boy alone. I'll make sure he doesn't bother you again." He harrumphed as the cardassian shot him a quick glare on his departure. Nog hissed at him after he left.

Odo knelt down in front of Nog. He was grumpy, irritable, and scary for sure, but he was surprisingly kind to children. His coarse voice softened, too.  
"Why aren't you with your father?" 

"Uncle Quark says it's not safe in there," He lied. It's dangerous everywhere on the station, Quark was never too concerned with safety, and Nog evidently just wanted to chuck peanuts at unsuspecting bystanders.

"You shouldn't be wandering around by yourself out here. I'll escort you back to your family." He harrumphed, getting back to his feet. "And don't...Throw things at people." 

Nog followed closely behind him. "Please don't tell uncle I got caught again! He's gonna be so mad--"

"No one's going to be angry with you." 

"But I thought you were chief of security! Uncle has a word for people like you." 

Odo chuckled and glanced over his shoulder at the boy as they continued down the corridors. "Oh, does he now?" 

"Well... Not really, he says there's a word, but he doesn't say it because he doesn't want me to swear."

"I see." 

"But he just calls you Odo! Because he likes you." Nog grinned up at him with his fangs that were too big for his head. 

"I doubt that." 

"You're his friend, or you'd put him in jail too, Mr. Odo." 

Mister?

Odo laughed lowly again. If he was speaking to anyone else he would have said, "No, I don't like him at all," but Nog was a child, and no child needs to hear bad things about his family. So instead, he told him,  
"You should let him know that."  
You know, as a threat. To keep him out of illegal activities. 

He wondered if Nog knew what happened to people who went to jail on Terok Nor, that their sentence is decided before they even face a trial. That if Odo didn't secretly try to keep Quark out of harm's way, against direct orders, he might add, then Nog's uncle would have already been executed on Cardassia for his crimes without a second thought. Odo deeply hoped that no one ever realized that.

"He knows, don't worry, Mr. Odo." 

"Hmm." 

The doors to Quark's opened with a hiss when they stepped inside. The Ferengi behind the bar diverted his attention to the arrival of the security officer. Not just any security officer, but the chief, and not just any chief, he was Odo. 

Nog quickly ran to his father Rom, who was stocking the shelves a short distance from his uncle.

Odo sat on his usual stool, leaned over the counter merely for intimidation purposes, and stared coldly at Quark. 

Quark gave Odo a sneer of hospitality, as always. He mirrored him and also positioned himself over the edge of the bar, as if to say you don't scare me. 

"Can I get you something, Constable?" 

Odo never understood why that nickname caught on in the first place.  
"Why are you letting a child run freely on the promenade, completely unsupervised?" 

"He's not my son so he's not my responsibility. What are you asking me for?" 

"That isn't good enough, Quark." 

"Tell it to Rom. Rom!" Quark shouted across the room, but his brother was preoccupied now, clearing dirty dishes off the dining tables. 

"One of these days he's going to get himself into more trouble than he can squeeze his way out of." Odo scoffed.

"I can't leave the bar, I've got a business to run. And his father's working right now." 

"Couldn't his mother watch after him?" 

"Shh!" Quark shushed him with a single finger to the changeling's not-lips. Odo grunted in protest.

"She left Rom heartbroken and worthless. As far as I'm concerned, Nog has no mother." 

"Then have him stay here with you, but he can't go running around alone out there. He picked a fight with a 200-pound cardassian before I interfered." 

"He shouldn't have to stay cooped up in here every day, the poor kid gets restless when he's bored. What he needs is a babysitter." 

Odo sighed. "...I may be able to help."


	2. Chapter 2

Odo had meant it when he volunteered to help look after Quark's nephew, and in all honesty, he had no idea how to take care of him. He knew not to be anything like Doctor Mora, though, so he must do something right. No electric shocks, don't keep them in test beakers, that sort of thing. And to be nice to them. No one would ever guess it off of his cold, rigid demeanor, but he did like children. Maybe it was that he took it upon himself to be lawful and protective.

Today, he sat in the security office, going over the daily crime reports. Nog watched everything he was doing.  
"Are you gonna arrest the cardassian who yelled at me yesterday, Odo?" 

"No." 

"Does Gul Dukat know you're my friend now?" 

"...No." 

"Are those battle plans? Are the Bajorans going to blow up the promenade again?" 

Odo turned around in his chair to look at him. He couldn't be annoyed with him, he was a little kid. He chose to patiently answer his dozens of persistent questions, the boy probably didn't have a lot of people to talk to here.  
"No, they aren't battle plans. And not if I have anything to do about it. We don't want anyone to be killed." 

Nog watched through the huge, round window that looked out to a view of the starry sky beyond the station. He could see Bajor from here, off in the distance, and the occassional runabout or freighter ship flying to and from the station's docking bays.   
"Have you ever been on a starship?" 

"On occassion, yes." 

"Have you seen a starfleet ship before? Like the Enterprise?" 

Odo hummed at that, having to think for a moment. "No, I don't think I have." 

"Father and unccle say not to trust the federation. They're a bunch of hu-mons, so I don't like them." Nog presses his hands on the thick glass of the viewing port. "I heard stories about the Enterprise though! From a Vulcan who stopped by the station to sell uncle uh-..." Nog cut himself off, like he wasn't meant to say some of the details. "Something. I never met a Vulcan before." 

"Oh, really?" Odo kept his somewhat formed nose in his padd, engrossed in his work, although he was still listening to Nog's story anyways.

"Yeah! He said, uh, that he never saw the enterprise, but he told me about the federation, because I asked him what the symbols on his crates meant. And I asked what starfleet does! And he told me about the Enterprise, and Mr. Spock. He was a Vulcan." 

"What did he have in his crates?" Odo had heard word of mouth about Starfleet, but it wasn't as important to him as what Quark could possibly be trading with a Vulcan. 

"He didn't let me see." Nog scowls. "And Mr. Spock's best friend was the captain of the Enterprise. Did you know that? It's so cool! I wish I could be captain of a starship, one with quantum torpedoes. Uncle says it's impossible, and I shouldn't want to." 

Odo nodded along. "Maybe you could." 

Nog got a huge grin on his face, no one ever told him that he could do it before. He liked to pretend he was a starship captain, but only by himself. "You're a shape shifter! Could you be a first officer Vulcan like Mr. Spock?" 

Odo narrowed his eyes and frowned. He regularly did shape-shifting tricks for the Cardassians, which was humiliating, but playing make-believe with a lonely child wasn't quite the same as being a circus animal. His undefined ears morphed from round discs into something pointed, closer to triangles, and his approximation of hair fell into sharp bangs across his face, but he still forgot to create eyebrows. His monotonous tone of voice completed his new appearance as he spun his chair to face Nog again.  
"Yes, Captain." 

Nog started laughing and fell back onto the floor. He sat there, and stared up at him with wonder. "First officer Mr. Odo! We have to beam down to the planet and make contact with the aliens. Or they'll eat our warp core." 

"Eat our warp core?" 

Nog pointed out the window to the tiny speck of Bajor. "Yeah, they're really hungry." That's what he overheard Bajorans saying on the station. "But Uncle Quark is getting them food, so it should be okay." He scrambled to his feet and seemed to panic for a second. "D-Don't tell Gul Dukat that though! Or he'll eat him." 

Odo had suspected that before. If word of that got out to the wrong person - any Cardassian on the station - that Quark was selling food to the Bajorans, he was doomed to execution. Odo felt something sink in him where his heart would be. He chose to stay in character as the Vulcan first officer.  
"Don't discuss those plans with anyone, Captain. It's highly confidential." 

"I know, sir..." Nog gulped. There was a hint of fear in his eyes, behind him playing the role of a Starfleet captain. "So we have to go on a mission to save um, the warp core! I've received word- I heard on the promenade about a Bajoran who was buying some of the food... I-I heard he was a collaborator, I think that means he works for the Cardassians. That he'd tell Gul Dukat about my uncle." 

Odo was more than a little worried now.   
"What was his name?" 

"Madru Brem, I think. I know where he goes on the promenade, I could show you if you want, Mr Odo, sir." 

"Captain Nog, this is a very important mission. Thank you for telling me."


End file.
